While eating an egg last week here in Ireland it occurred to me that it had never happened to me in America.

About 10 minutes earlier I was asked if I wanted an egg.

That’s all I was asked.

-Do you want an egg?

My grandmother taught me it was polite to say yes, so I said yes. Plus, I quite fancied an egg.

-Do you want an egg?
That’s what I was asked. And that’s what I answered.

I wasn’t asked if I wanted it easy over. Or hard up, for that matter.

I wasn’t asked if I wanted it sunny side up. Or arseways down.

I wasn’t asked if I wanted the yolk runny or hard. Or broken.

I wasn’t even asked if I wanted a fried egg.

That never happened to me in America.

So it was easy to say yes.

But that’s not all that never happened to me in America. The egg I was given was indeed fried. It was burnt, in fact. Just the way my grandmother in Dublin used to cook them for me.

And I loved it. Because I like eggs. And I don’t care what shape they are or how you cook them or what they look like. And when a big dirty mug of tea hits that film of grease left on my lips from a fried egg, it’s better than…well, I’m probably getting a little personal.

How do you like your eggs?

See More on Food in Ireland and the US:
   • An Irish Sausage is Not a Banger
   • Eating Turkey in Ireland and in America
   • Solving the World’s Problems with Milk and Onions
   • A Vegan Irish Recipe
   • Assault on Kansas City (Honest, it is related)

Read: It Never Happened in America »

There are a lot of people in Ireland today, and I would be one of them, very puzzled by the decision of a Grand Jury in a small Oregon town, that a police officer was legally justified to shoot and kill the Irish national, 20-year old artist Andrew James (AJ) Hanlon.

Bock covers today’s news that stunned then sickened me when I heard it earlier.

Bock has given exceptional coverage through all of this tragic story including testimonials.

And here’s today’s news as reported in The Oregonian

Read: The Shooting of AJ Hanlon »

While I continue my search for a home and/or a studio where I can resume my painting, you can have a look at the state of my workplace when I am painting.

A question I’m often asked about my painting is whether I paint a picture through to completion and then begin a new picture, or if I have more than one on the go at a time.

I think it’s fair to say I have more than one on the go at any given time. [click to enlarge]

So I can work on them in my head I like to have them facing me. Most of these were eventually finished and sold - while the big one in the centre, the half-painted Blue Mountains, Green Grass was the focus, there are a whole load of paintings mid-way through that you can see.

That’s Killarney in the bottom left, Doolin over to the right, Cobh at the back under the window, Galway Street at the front on top of Poulnabrone Dolmen, Beehive Hut back a bit on the floor to the right.

Keep looking and you’ll spot Connemara Coast, the Rock of Cashel, Ballina, Kenmare River, Burren Tower, Kinsale II, and more.

Some in there I never got to finishing though - not yet anyway - like Rosmuc, Sneem, and one of the Cliffs of Moher, and some have never sold - like Benbulben (to the right) and Roundstone Boats (to the left in red with green sky).

So feel free to make an offer while I get back to looking for painting space.

More About My Paintings:
   • My Favourite Paintings
   • So I Painted It
   • Things I Paint the Most
   • Things People Say (When They See You Painting)

Read: I Used To Paint Pictures »

I’m currently packing to leave Ireland’s sunny southeast today and head back to Dublin and broadband productivity.

But you knew all that if you were keeping an eye on Twitter.

We really will talk later. It might be impossible to stop me.

Read: Packing For Dublin »